Crochet duckling pattern — four pieces, thirty-five rounds written out
A duckling about 10 cm tall and 4.5 cm across the body, worked on a 3.5 mm hook in four colours over about two and a half hours. The sky blue band sits on the neck's eighteen stitches, rounds 13 and 14, between the decrease that pulls the neck in at round 12 and the increase that opens the head back out at round 15. This free crochet duckling pattern writes out all thirty-five rounds across the four pieces, each with the count it ends on.
Maths verified, not yet made. Every one of the 35 rounds was checked against the round before it by machine — the counts, the increases and the decreases all add up. What nobody can promise you yet is how it sits in the hand.How we check
6 of 8 checks ran on 2026-09-04
- 1 format and stitch chainscripts/validate.py — 113 patterns, all counts chain.
- 2 catalogue auditscripts/audit-patterns.py — 113 audited, 0 errors, 66 warnings.
- 3 geometrygeometry-check.py — 113 checked, 0 errors, 4 warnings.
- 5 not a duplicate113 distinct display names across 113 patterns
- 6c target on the recordseo.headKeyword, confidence and demand present and cross-checked by scripts/validate.py
- 8 page readinessscripts/check-completeness.py --gate — 0 required fields missing, 114 editorial flags, 0 unearned claims.
Not yet checked
- 4 render matches the pattern — no image has been compared against its own prompt, so a render showing a piece the rounds do not make would not be caught here. Nothing has counted how many do.
- 6a recognisability — provenance.recognisability is empty in every pattern, so there is no feature list to check the parts against.
Why it is rated Easy
Easy: every shaping move is a plain increase or decrease, but the body and head run as one piece, so the body has to be stuffed through an eighteen-stitch neck.
Sell what you make. Anything you crochet from this pattern is yours to sell — any quantity, no fee, no credit required.
00
00What you need before you start
CollapseExpand
What you need before you start
Yarn — four colours, all weight 3
1 small skein (~40 g)DK cotton, weight 3 / light
scrapsDK cotton, weight 3 / light
scrapsDK cotton, weight 3 / light
scrapsDK cotton, weight 3 / light
Tools
5 you probably own, 3 to buyYou likely have
Tapestry needle
Scissors
Stitch markers
Pins
A chopstick or similar for pushing stuffing in
You need to buy
6 mm black safety eyes ×2
Polyester stuffing (~20 g)
Black embroidery floss, if you would rather embroider the eyes
Optional
A stitch marker in a contrast colour for the round start
Powder blush and a soft brush for the cheeks
Gauge and finished size
the last check before you cast onTension
Gauge is not critical. Work tight enough that the stuffing cannot show between the stitches; a looser hand only gives you a bigger duckling.
Finished size
~10 cm tall, about 4.5 cm across the body
White yarn with a grey band reads as a cygnet on the same thirty-five rounds. DK cotton on a 3.5 mm hook keeps the fabric tight; worsted on a 4 mm hook gives a larger duckling.
How to make the duckling, piece by piece
Switching rewrites every round:US6 sc in mrUK6 dc in mrWork a US sc as a UK single crochet and the fabric comes out looser and taller.
1
01Body and head
One piece, twenty-three rounds. Out to twenty-four for the belly, in…23 RNDS
starts in butterYellow· magic ring· Piece 1 of 4
First six rounds[6] [12] [18] [24] [24] [24]
Opening out
RND 1–41[6]
2[12]
3[18]
4[24]
The belly
RND 5–115[24]
6[24]
7[24]
8[24]
9[24]
10[24]
11[24]
The neck and the blue band
RND 12–1412[18]
13[18]
14[18]
The head
RND 15–2015[24]
16[24]
17[24]
18[24]
19[24]
20[24]
Closing in
RND 21–2321[18]
22[12]
23[6]
US termsmrmagic ringscsingle crochetincincreasedecdecreasest(s)stitch, or stitches
When this piece is doneStuff as you go rather than at the end. The neck is narrow, and filling the head through it once the piece is closed is the hard way round.
2
02The wings
Two the same. A white tip, then yellow for two straight rounds, and…4 RNDS
starts in white· magic ring· Piece 2 of 4
First four rounds[6] [12] [12] [12]
1[6]
2[12]
3[12]
4[12]
US termsmrmagic ringscsingle crochetincincreasedecdecreasest(s)stitch, or stitches
When this piece is donePress each one flat and leave it unstuffed. Pin them both before you sew either, so they end up level.
3
03Right wing
— the same 4 rounds again, worked from piece 024 RNDS
starts in white· magic ring· Piece 3 of 4· mirrors the wings
First four rounds[6] [12] [12] [12]
1[6]
2[12]
3[12]
4[12]
US termsmrmagic ringscsingle crochetincincreasedecdecreasest(s)stitch, or stitches
4
04The bill
Four rounds in orange, worked exactly like a wing and then pressed…4 RNDS
starts in orange· magic ring· Piece 4 of 4
First four rounds[6] [12] [12] [12]
1[6]
2[12]
3[12]
4[12]
US termsmrmagic ringscsingle crochetincincreasedecdecreasest(s)stitch, or stitches
When this piece is doneFlatten it across three stitches rather than six and it reads as a bill rather than a paddle.
You are here
Four pieces from three lists. One list — the wings — is written once and worked twice, identical round for round; the grey bars are piece length, all drawn to the same scale.35 ROUNDS IN ALL
Ten notes on the duckling
Read themClose
01An original Crochet Genie design.
02The fabric is smooth single crochet from the first round to the last. Nothing here is ribbed, textured or open — the sky blue band at the neck is a colour change on the same stitch, not a different stitch.
03Worked in a continuous spiral. There is no seam to join at the end of a round, so mark the first stitch and move the marker up as you go.
04The body and the head are one unbroken piece. The decrease at round 12 pulls the neck in and the increase at round 15 opens the head back out.
05Stuff the body firmly while the neck is still open at rounds 13 and 14, then stuff the head as you close it. A firm body keeps the duckling sitting upright.
06The wings and the bill stay flat and unstuffed. Press each one closed and sew through both layers.
07Sew a wing to each side of the body across rounds 8 to 10, set a little behind the centre so the duckling looks forward.
08Press the bill into a small rectangle about 3 stitches wide and sew it to the front of the head across rounds 17 and 18. Set the eyes one round above the bill and about 5 stitches apart.
09For a child under three, embroider the eyes in black floss and leave the safety eyes out.
10The colours are suggestions. A white duckling with a grey band reads as a cygnet, and the pattern does not change.
Four questions this pattern answers
Not questions anybody asked. Each one is written from this pattern's own record, and every answer is read off the fields it names.
How many pieces make up the duckling?
How much yarn will the duckling take?
What hook will the duckling need, and what is the finished size?
How long will the duckling take to crochet?
A round that will not add up?
Tell us the piece and the round number — the stepper already knows where you are.There is nowhere to send one yet.
Put the laptop down mid-round
The iPhone app keeps your place — piece of 4, round of — and hands it back where you left it.
